Temple Bar Trust Presents: People in Place

Wayward is a landscape, art and architecture practice based in London – an award-winning collective of designers, artists and urban growers. Since 2006 Wayward has pioneered new methodologies in the creative use of under-utilised land and meanwhile spaces, transforming derelict sites into large-scale, design-driven spaces that engage local communities and inspire international audiences. 

This talk focuses on Wayward's work, particularly projects around community engagement and design strategies. For the past decade, Wayward has designed and tested innovative new social, cultural and economic models for sustainable green spaces such as Farmopolis, an ambitious new urban farming concept that brings together food, farming, arts and culture; the Urban Physic Garden, a garden of medicinal plants promoting the healing power of plants and food as medicine; and the House of Wayward Plants, a plant adoption scheme that re-homes thousands of plants a year! 

Tom will explore Wayward’s unique approach to landscape through projects creating narrative environments - expressive stories that connect people through nature, creating vibrant places which are productive, meaningful and imaginative. They are platforms for interdisciplinary collaboration, experimentation and creative innovation that goes beyond design to extend to creative direction and production, project delivery, strategic partnership building, community engagement, original programming, curation and live events. He will discuss how this approach impacts design for both plants and people, now and for our future. 

As Associate Director, Tom has worked with Wayward for over a decade, leading on design and project management while overseeing production, creative workshops and community engagement. Born and raised on a farm in Cornwall, he went on to study Fine Art at Falmouth College of Art, and Architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture and the Royal College of Art. As well as leading Wayward’s design team he also teaches design studios at Middlesex University and the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL) and conducts personal research and workshops on the role of storytelling and writing in architecture and design.